The Oklahoma Healthcare Authority announced it would be cutting SoonerCare (the state’s Medicaid program) provider rates by a quarter starting on June 1, 2016. The move is to prepare for the reduced budget for the next fiscal year which begins July 1. The cuts would save OHCA about $237 million.
OHCA must give a sixty-day notice to implement the rate changes. The agency must achieve savings during the year or there could be bigger cuts. OHCA contracts with more than 46,000 providers and 
will propose eliminating payments for coinsurance and deductibles on crossover claims.
“I do not take these cuts lightly; as the state’s largest health insurer, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority underpins the entire fabric of the state’s health care system that serves all Oklahomans. I worry about the infrastructure of our health care system in light of these cuts. From a business standpoint, I’m afraid many providers will close their doors to our patients. In some cases, especially in rural parts of our state, health care professionals will have to move their business to larger communities in order to survive financially” said OHCA CEO Nico Gomez.
House Democrats immediately began blaming Republicans for the deep cuts to SoonerCare.
“The residents of Oklahoma, and the doctors and nurses who care for their well-being, have been let down and shortchanged by Governor Fallin and Republican legislative leaders who have refused to accept federal Medicaid dollars,” House Minority Leader Scott Inman said. “For the governor, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to favor tax cuts and millions of dollars in tax giveaways over the health care of our citizens is not only fiscally irresponsible but is fundamentally immoral.”
Rep. Shane Stone called for the Legislature to take action in order to prevent such drastic cuts to the program which poor Oklahomans use for health care coverage.
“It is my hope that we will take quick action as a Legislature to find a way to prevent the provider rate cut,” Stone continued. “Failure to take necessary action to stop this policy from being implemented would be an admission that the Legislature and the current administration have damaged this state beyond immediate repair.”
Reaction from within the health care industry gave rise to concerns that rural long term health care would be in jeopardy. The Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers believe the 25 percent cut to providers would create a crisis for Oklahoma seniors. The association estimates nearly 17,000 seniors and patients in nursing homes could be displaced.
“The proposed cuts would essentially gut the profession that cares for Oklahoma’s most vulnerable citizens,” said OAHCP board president Tandie Hastings. “At a 25 percent cut, 93 percent of our facilities will be operating at a loss every single day. That is unsustainable and the result will be mass closure of nursing homes. When that happens, a lot of seniors and disabled individuals will be out of options for receiving care.”
